Mindy McCready Has Died

Mindy McCready, the former country star apparently took her own life Sunday afternoon in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, the mother of two young sons. I am grateful that her two sons were out of the house and had been taken by authorities. Mindy is believed to have killed her dog prior to killing herself. On February 6th, her children were taken away and placed with their maternal grandmother. Mindy was forced to enter a mental health facility, but was released two days later. Authorities have still not determined whether Mindy killed her boyfriend or whether he killed himself.

If ever there were a downward spiral, Mindy's is one of the quickest I've seen.

Those poor kids! I'd like to think it's actually a good thing they were away from their mother at this difficult time in her life, although some could argue it could've been a causing factor. I think she killed herself on the same porch where her b/f died. Maybe she just couldn't handle the grief.

You have to wonder how much her concussions affected her ability to cope mentally with everything that has happened. I remember the seizure she had on Celebrity Rehab that may have been caused by having her head repeatedly slammed into a headboard by one of her abusive ex-boyfriends.

I also suspect she killed her boyfriend. If so, perhaps justice was served in a roundabout fashion. Either way, her poor kids. Hopefully the rest of her family is stable enough to care for them properly.

I feel so bad for the children. I don't understand why the oldest is in child services if his father is alive and well. From what I gathered last night, the father of her first child has been in and out of jail. I also read that the second child's father was arrested a few weeks before his death.

I feel like a patronizing asshole for saying this, but why do grown-ass adults who can't get their own shit together reproduce? Mindy tried to commit suicide WHILE pregnant. That's just crazy.

She's tried to commit suicide multiple times so I guess this is what she wanted.

I hope someone stable in the family gets those kids. Or a lovely adoptive family.

It is very sad, but I think that the hardest part is the helplessness in a situation like this. She was offered help and maybe they should have made her stay (doesn't matter now) but no matter how much WE want them to get help if THEY don't want it, in the end there is nothing we can do.

That was the part that took my sympathy, also. If she killed the dog, what is the possibility she would have killed her children if they had been there.I do understand the downward spiral of depression. There were times I did want to kill myself. I would think everyone would be better off without me. Then, I would think of my children. They saved my life just by being.

When I read the brief CNN article about this last night, I went on to read the comments following the article there and was appalled at how disgusting and cruel they were. It was so sad that people were so mean–just so mean–talking about someone who was obviously deeply troubled. Some were judgmental while others were making jokes about the suicide itself and about Mindy and about people who commit suicide in general.

I am relieved to see so much more compassion here among the CDAN community.

The thought of her children may have saved her life if she had hope of having them! Her mother spent years taking away the things that mattered to her! She loved her children! That is why she took Zander and ran! Hope her mother can be happy now that mindy will never have them! So sorry she felt so hurt and hopeless….

Has nothing to do with dr drew. Addiction is a bitch, results are dismal, and dr drew wld be first to tell you that. The 12 step program, as ineffectual as it is, is all we have to deal with addiction.

It has little to do with dr drew – these are pretty typical stories in the recovery world. Most don't make it. Shitty fact. Thank goodness her children weren't with her or they might have been killed too. I think she had something to do with her boyfriend's death. Entirely tragic situation. Poor dog too!

My friends and I were discussing last night the possibility that PPD could've played a role in her mental state. She seemed to be a very lost person with a longing to be loved the right way but with no idea of what that was or how to return it. Her drug addiction and alcoholism compiled with the abusive relationships she was in probably left her feeling hopeless and completed detached from reality. While this wasn't surprising, it's still incredibly sad. She was beautiful and talented and I wish she had wanted the help enough to put in the work to get better.

May Flower, the comments on CNN are always unusually cruel! I don't understand why trolls flock to that site, but they do.

I agree with everyone else – I pray her young children can have the support they need to recover from this. And I'm sure she's found peace now. My heart breaks for people who can't get it together for the sake of their children. I have a family member who died of alcoholism. He had two beautiful kids to live for, but that wasn't enough to break the grip of his addiction. It's overwhelmingly sad.

@ mischievous angel, I've been there before also. My mom said to me that my daughter would grow up thinking that she had somehow done something wrong and that it was her fault. That snapped me right back into it and I have not looked that way ever since.

@Li, I'm baffled by the dog shooting. I did read that the dog was the one who found the bullet that killed her boyfriend, I echo others on the thought that it is a very good thing her children were not there. Sad, sad, sad…

I agree, this has little to do with Dr. Drew. The success rates in recovery with addiction are low, and add all this mental illness/trauma, it's unlikely. Hopefully the message is stay in treatment and recovery. I am sad for her, she was very broken.

Oddly, I had the song "Guys Do It All the Time" stuck in my head Saturday night. It's very sad that she wasn't able to get help. I wondereded if this stemmed from the allegations about her boyfriend as well.

Was she a very big country star? I'd never even heard of her until reading about her on CDaN when her boyfriend committed suicide. The police are no slouches; surely they would have arrested her by now if she had been a suspect in his murder. Talk of her as a suspect probably contributed to her declining mental state.

And yes, thank god the kids weren't there. She might have taken them with her.

A friend and I were talking just a few days ago about what would happen to our beloved furbabies and I was kinda shocked when she said she would consider putting her animals down, rather than leave them behind…not knowing if anyone would care for them the way she does. I've thought about it since I heard about Mindy last night…and, I kinda understand now that kind of thinking. *Please note I said KINDA*

@just curious: You have such an ugly heart. I wish for you to have peace and light. SMH

For very personal reasons-as well as the simple fact that I'm human, and I have a HEART-these stories always just slay me. But then it gets a thousand times worse when I read comments by people who seem to lack any compassion. I know it's hard to understand why people would behave in this way, and hurt themselves and others over and over again. And to most of us, it's hard to imagine taking our life or the life of someone we love. But again, that's the thing about mental illness and addiction; rational thought goes out the window. How frightening for those who are in the throes of it, and how terribly sad for everyone involved.

I'm just glad she didn't take those beautiful babies with her. This was the inevitable because she had tried so many times to take her own life. I only hope that she finds comfort and peace wherever she may be and that those children are well taken care of and know that their mother loved them so much. I'm sad for her children. I also think she had something to do with her boyfriend's death and I guess we'll never know but it's too late for speculation. RIP.

When I first heard about this last night, I thought," Oh that poor woman." She had been struggling for so long. I'm not even all that into country music but I had been hearing about her troubles for years now. As for the dog, I figured that she thought she wouldn't be found for awhile and she didn't want the dog to starve. (Or eat her body, perhaps. I know that sounds gross but I have heard too many stories of people who die in the same house as cats and what happens afterward.)

I was wondering if maybe she and the boyfriend had had some kind of suicide pact or something. I mean the fact that she killed herself in the exact same way in the exact same place makes me think there's a message in there somewhere.

I would not slam Dr. Drew what is the rate of success with rehab in general – not good – it takes many people many many kicks at the can and then factor in celebrities that have the money and fame and access to free drugs and alcoho, whatever they want. It just takes one relapse to kill you and most of these people should have been dead several times before they ever got to rehab.

I don't think Dr. Drew can be blamed for the high rate of tragedy that occurs among his patients. He's trying to help high-risk people. Honestly, those who help addicts seem to have such an exhausting and thankless job. The tragedies most likely outweigh the successes. Actually, I applaud Dr. Drew. The Celebrity Rehab program was very eye-opening for me when I have watched.

Echoing the sentiments of a few here: I read this on D-Listed last night. I love Michael K and thought he treated this news gently and with respect. The comments however horrified me. I don't comment here often, but I sure was missing my CDANers and their compassion. (I read your thoughts every day and kind of feel like I'm the wallflower in the family.)

I think the whole scenario sucks as a whole. Like many people who have posted, I feel sad and it's obvious that she was troubled. Do I think she had a hand in her boyfriend's death? I am on the fence. As a friend just said, "2 addicts who found each other". As for the report of the dog – not that I would condone it, but perhaps she was ultimately scared and wanted to bring her faithful companion with her. Trust me, it's sad, not cool, but the only rational explanation I can think of. I feel horribly for her children, expecially since this is so publicly played out. They are too young now to understand what has happened, but like they say – the internet is "forever". One day they will be old enough to "google" their mother out of sheer curiosity, etc, and will be exposed to the nastiness out there. I hope that whoever takes care of these boys now is kind, compassionate, and strong enough to guide them through the future – break the cycle.

I was so hoping she would be able to beat her demons. I loved her music and have many of her songs still on rotation to this day. Look her up on youtube and you will see her wonderful talent shine through. Look up Ten Thousand Angels which was her break out hit. I know many think Roger Clemens is the big factor but they better take a closer look at the b*st*rd that nearly destroyed her. She was engaged to Dean Cain for several years. If you want to see Dean Cain directing her videos then look at The Other Side Of This Kiss and also You'll Never Know it was during that time that she began showing the erratic episodes but it was after he broke up with her that she went totally off the rails. She damn near died at the hands of men she thought she could trust and fell deeper into drugs and mental illness. It is so sad that she couldn't conquer her demons as she had two beautiful little boys that needed their mom. She will be missed.

I was sad at first but then I learned what she did to her dog and now I'm really pissed off. Dogs are trusting. They should be left out of peoples fucked up issues.

I'm sad for her kids, no one should have to go through losing a parent so young but thank fuck they weren't with her at the time – she may have hurt them as well or they may have seen her do it or seen her afterwards.

I'd be curious to see the determined cause of death for her boyfriend.

I'm surprised by how many of you are surprised/baffled by Mindy's killing of the dog before taking her own life. This is pretty common behavior. Many, many people take the lives of their pets before killing themselves. Why? Take your pick from a host of reasons; they don't want to die alone, they believe the animal will not be cared for/are preventing future suffering of animal, etc. Very common.

From what little I saw of her on Celebrity Rehab she seemed like a nice, caring, warm person. I saw myself in her actually. I also saw some bad stuff in there too. Low self esteem, her Mom did seem like she took her kid away from her and kept him away which devastated Mindy. Mindy's taste for abuse didn't come from nowhere, I would be willing to be it came from her home life growing up. Whatever the case, I hope that she's found peace. She was such a tortured soul. RIP Mindy and Mindy's faithful Dog.

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